LOS LUNAS — “There is one thing the photo must contain — the humanity of the moment.” – Robert Frank
Belen photographer Bob Christensen is having an exhibit that embodies that quote powerfully. His photographs of vernacular buildings in Valencia County give you a sense of what life was like in the past for those who lived here.
The exhibit, titled “Memories of Valencia County,” is at the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts, and features Christensen’s photographs from around Valencia County spanning half a century. It showcases Christensen’s photographs he shot in the 1970s. The show opened on Aug. 5 and will be held through Saturday, Sept. 30.
Christensen has been photographing unique architecture in the state since he relocated from the Midwest in the ’70s.
“They just seem to have personalities that I never saw growing up,” Christensen said. “I started photographing them because I was drawn to them all over the state.”
Christensen, who is originally from Chicago, moved to Phoenix after attending college in Wisconsin. His time in Phoenix was cut short when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. When he left the military, he followed his brother to Albuquerque, deciding it was better than Phoenix.
Jesse Jones | News-Bulletin photo
Bob Christensen sits beside one of his photographs featured in the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage & Arts exhibit, “Memories of Valencia County.”
While in Albuquerque, he attended the University of New Mexico with the goal of getting a master’s degree in fine art. He took classes there until his GI bill ran out and, in 1972, Christensen moved to Valencia County.
One of his first jobs in the area was driving a truck around the state to deliver produce and house plants to Piggly Wiggly and Foodway stores.
He decided to take back roads on his deliveries and, if he saw something he liked, he would stop and take a picture of it. If the light was not right, he would go back on his own time. Eventually, he got fired from that job when he was about four hours overdue getting back after stopping to take photos along the way.
While attending UNM, Christensen delved into the study of photography and its rich history. He was fortunate enough to receive instruction from Beaumont Newhall, author of the highly regarded textbook, “The History of Photography,” one of the most significant textbooks on the history of photography.
Jesse Jones | News-Bulletin photo
Photographs by Bob Christensen hang on the wall at the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage & Arts.
Christensen considers himself a black-and-white photographer, who shot on film for most of his career and produced masterful prints in the darkroom.
While working at Kurt’s Camera Corral in Albuquerque, he made the decision to embrace digital cameras early on.
“I saw the writing on the wall, so I sold my darkroom, my cameras and everything and went digital,” Christensen said. “Maybe one of the last people to get full value for their film equipment.”
Christensen liked the ease and reproduce-ability that the computer program, Photoshop, offers over traditional wet darkrooms.
“I would sometimes take days in the darkroom just trying to get a couple of prints that were exactly the same; it was expensive,” he said.
Christensen drew inspiration from renowned photographers, such as Minor White, Paul Strand, Robert Frank and Walker Evans who preceded him.
Christensen’s work is reminiscent of Walker Evan’s depression-era photo series of dilapidated buildings titled, “Landscapes in Transition.” During the Great Depression in the mid-1930s, the Farm Security Administration commissioned Walker Evans to capture photographs that document America’s changing landscape.
Bob Christensen photo
This photograph by Bob Christensen is titled, “Adobe Barn, Los Lunas, 1974.” The building is located just south of Witwer Road, on the west side of the highway.
Bob Christensen photo
This photograph by Bob Christensen is titled, “Thelma’s Snack Bar, Los Lunas, 1976.” The buildings, where the Champion car wash is now, was an after-school hang out for kids. Before that, it was a law office, post office and the Los Lunas Schools administration offices.
Christensen’s photos of the late 20th century in New Mexico capture an eerily similar changing landscape of American culture. It was a time when buildings were losing their unique individualism and being replaced with modern buildings, which some say lack personality.
According to his Flickr page, Christensen’s goal was “not to document so much as to create portraits of these wizened old visages that seem to speak so eloquently of a rapidly-disappearing era of individualism, self-reliance, and personal integrity.”
“We are honored to showcase his work,” says Louis Huning Jr., museum specialist at the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts.
The museum’s exhibition is organized by showcasing different towns and regions of Valencia County in each room. Visitors are taken on an exciting journey through time and space, providing a glimpse of what the county looked like in the past.
“The one thing I like is the first photograph you come into on your left is Los Lunas Peak, back before it started building up around there. It’s just kind of sobering,” says Christensen about the exhibit.
Bob Christensen photo
This photograph by Bob Christensen titled, “San Antonio Church, Los Lunas, 1976,” is on display at the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage & Arts. That year was the church’s centennial anniversary and it was also renovated.
Bob Christensen photo
This photograph by Bob Christensen is titled, “Gil’s Bakery, Belen, 1976.” The building where the former bakery stood on the corner of Main Street and Reinken Avenue in Belen was demolished earlier this year.
Christensen said the photographs were captured for their historical significance, and now — 30 to 50 years later — they are paying off.
Some of the buildings or locations featured in the show are no longer around or have undergone significant changes. They may have been demolished to make way for modern buildings, while others might have been updated to conform to modern building codes or covered up with structural additions.
“We’re grateful he took these photos to document the buildings and businesses that are no longer around,” said Huning.
If you want to get a glimpse of how the county once looked, go check out the exhibition before that is gone, too.
“Memories of Valencia County” by Bob Christensen is at the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts, at 251 Main St. SE., is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
Jesse Jones lives in Albuquerque with his wife and son. Jesse graduated from of the University of New Mexico twice. This spring, he graduated with a degree in multimedia journalism and, in 2006, he received a bachelor’s degree in university studies with an emphasis in photojournalism. He is a current fellow of the New Mexico Local News Fund.
151
May 2, 2024
